If you were to visit India you would be much interested in the different styles of dress, for the people there do not dress at all as you do. [Open the PDF link at the bottom of this story to see pictures that accompany the story]

For four or five years, sometimes longer, “the children run about with no clothes on at all, except that the boys wear a charm tied round their waists with a string, to frighten away the evil spirits; and the girls, besides the charm, wear as many jewels as they can get—necklaces, bracelets, and bangles on the ankles.”

But after they grow older many of them seem to pay more attention to their clothing and ornaments than they do to their houses and gardens, for it is said that out of houses and courts that hardly look fit for a dog-kennel, come ladies in very grand clothing!

They wear so many bright colours that it makes their clothing appear very gorgeous. A lady thus describes a group of little Hindu girls who were off on a holiday with their lady missionary:—

“One child wore a pale primrose-coloured chuddah (the shawl they wear over their heads), another was dressed just like a daffodil. There were several little brides; one dressed in a red silk skirt trimmed at the bottom with a deep border of real silver, and a pale pink chuddah trimmed with the same costly trimming. Most of them carried little round looking-glasses fastened to their thumbs.”

Another lady speaking of the little girls that attend her school, says, “They look so pretty in their native dresses, some of which are very bright coloured. All wear small nose rings.”

Still another lady missionary who visits the homes of the Indian women to teach them, says:—

In a house where I was to-day our pupil [a Hindu lady] wore a bright red skirt, and a bright yellow veil over her head; she wore it so that it quite covered her face. This is because she is a bride, and in her father-in-law’s house. She had a black loose jacket trimmed with green silk and gold braid—was she not smart? She had a great many earrings in her ears, and a nose ring in her nose, and her arms were covered with bracelets, and her feet with anklets.”

“In another house where we went the women were Mohammedans, and dressed rather differently. They wore long, loose drawers, dyed some pretty colour, pink or yellow or green. Their veils are the same as those of the Hindu women. In this house, which was the doctor’s, the women wore very nice clothes made of fine material, but they had not on much jewellery.”

Sometimes you will see girls in “soft silk draperies of the most delicate tints imaginable, and boys in oriental dress with rich velvet caps embroidered in costly designs.” Some dress in all sorts of beautiful embroideries, laces, and thin white cloth sown with pearls or glistening with beetles’ wings.

Even the men like to wear fine clothing, for grand ones are sometimes seen in the processions with white satin coats, and bright scarlet umbrellas held over them. “Finger rings, earrings and toe rings are also worn by the men.” All Brahmins, as well as the other “twice-born castes,” wear a sacred thread, made of twists of cotton, which hangs from the left shoulder across to the right side. Religious Brahmins wear round the neck a rosary of hard nuts of certain trees, which they count when saying their prayers. Those who worship Siva wear a rosary of another kind of nuts, and those who worship Vishnu, a rosary of still another kind of nuts. And the Hindus all wear some kind of mark on their foreheads, that shows what their religion is, and what god they worship.

The Hindu men generally wear two snow-white cloths, each from two to ten yards in length. There are no pins, buttons, or strings, but they are fastened by simply folding one part within the other. Many, however, among the educated classes now wear made-up tunics, while others wear loose and tight trousers, like the Mohammedans, the latter fastening them on the left side, and the former on the right. The turban or head-dress is a long, narrow piece of cloth worn around the head, sometimes of one colour, and sometimes of another colour. Many wear no head covering at all. “Stockings are scarcely ever seen, and many go without shoes. Sandals or native slippers, peaked and turned up at the toes, and turned down at the heels, are usually worn outside, but never inside the house.”

The high-caste woman wears a tight-fitting bodice and a long garment from six to twenty yards in length, which she winds round and round her body. It may be a wholly white garment of widowhood, or rich coloured silk, or coloured cotton with the end handsomely figured. The low-caste woman had not the bodice, only the cloth. The women wear no head-dress, but a single fold of cloth drawn up over the head.

All women are very fond of jewellery, which they wear on their arms, wrists, necks, and fingers, in their ears and noses, round their ankles, on their toes, and in their hair. Some spend nearly all of their money on jewellery. Instead of a wedding ring the married women wear a twisted thread around their necks, on which is one or more small gold jewels. This, as well as all other jewels, are stripped off of the widows as soon as their husbands are dead. The poor coolie women who labour so hard in carrying baskets of clay, etc., on their heads, do not dress so well. Their clothes are dirty, and some have hardly any clothes at all.

As in this country, the rich are richly dressed, and the poor are poorly dressed. There are many different costumes among the labouring classes, each class of workmen being dressed according to their work.

Would you like to dress as beautifully as some of these high-class ladies of India? If so, read the next article and you will find how you can have clothing that is far more beautiful than theirs.

“Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
‘Mid hosts of sin, in these arrayed,
My soul shall never be afraid.”

 

 

“Dress and Ornaments for You”

No matter how poor you may be, you may dress better than any of the fine gentlemen or ladies of India, if you wish. You may have clothing and ornaments that are far more beautiful and more costly, that will never fade and never wear out, and that never can be destroyed!

The wonder of it is, you may have them for nothing! A Friend has sent a letter saying that He will give them to you, if you wish!

This Friend saw you, although you may not have known it, and He saw something about you that perhaps you have never noticed. He saw that you were not dressed nearly so well as you thought you were. He knew of clothing so much better than yours that the very best that you ever put on looked like filthy rags to Him. He knew that when He should come, for He is coming soon, you would know how worthless your clothing is, and would feel ashamed to see His face. He knew that your present clothing could never protect you from the burning heat of the fires of the last day, when all the wicked will be burned up. He was not willing for you to be destroyed, for He loved you. He left His beautiful home, became poor, came to this earth, and in weariness and painfulness wrought out for you a beautiful pure white robe, and an ornament such as this world cannot give. It cost Him His precious life, but He willingly gave that up for the love wherewith He loved you, and for the joy that He knew He would feel to see you clothed and safe in the trying time that is coming.

The name of this dear Friend is “Jesus”; the name of the costly robe that He worked out for you is “The righteousness of God”; the name of the priceless ornament is “A meek and quiet spirit.”

You see the robe is not made of cotton or silk, but of good works,—of kind thoughts, gentle words, and loving acts. It therefore cannot be worn on the outside, but on the inside. You cannot put it on yourself. Jesus alone can take away your naughty feelings and naughty actions, and fill you with this love and kindness and good works. He does this by coming into your heart Himself, by His Spirit. He wants you to give yourself all up to Him, and let Him use your tongue to say kind words, your hands to help others, your feet to run on errands of mercy, your whole mind and body to do as He did when He was on earth.

Oh, will you let Him clothe you with this beautiful dress? Will you let Jesus in, and let Him take away the filthy rags of your own goodness, and clothe you with the glorious garments of His spotless purity? Will you let Him take away your selfish, unkind spirit and fasten in your heart the ornament of His own meek and quiet Spirit?

It grieves His heart when He sees you seeking to adorn yourself in the flimsy finery and worthless ornaments of this earth, for it shows that you do not care for the better clothing that He has suffered so much to provide for you. It shows that you have forgotten how His head wore the shameful crown of thorns that yours might wear a crown of gold; how He wore a plain, seamless coat that you might wear the beautiful robe of His righteousness, and how He meekly and quietly suffered that you might have the ornament of His meek and quiet Spirit.

Although feathers and flowers and costly trimmings and jewellery may for a time cause man to look upon you with more favour, it does not have that effect upon God. He looketh not on the outward appearance, but upon the heart. He knows that all such things will soon pass away, and that only inward beauty and ornaments will be accepted in the great day of judgment.

Jesus therefore says of your adorning, “Let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which will not perish, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” 1 Peter 2:2, 4.

Again He says in 1 Timothy 2:9, 10, that women should “adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but with good works.”

In Proverbs He says, “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother; for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.” [Prov. 1:8, 9]

Here are beauty and clothing and ornaments that you need not be ashamed to wear among your friends on earth, or among the great company of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues that shall stand before the throne of the great God, clothed with white robes and with palms in their hands.

The Present Truth – June 1, 1893
E. J. Waggoner

Story in PDF Indian Dress and Ornaments